Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school board members like Superintendent Jane Berenz’s data-driven, individualized approach to education so much, they agreed to give her a 3.7 percent raise.

The board approved Berenz’s new three-year contract with a 6-1 vote on Monday night, five months before her current contract expires. In July, her pay will increase from $185,000 to $192,000, and she will see increases in payments to a retirement account, vacation and sick time.

“We have been thrilled,” board chairwoman Jackie Magnuson said of the superintendent’s work. She added that Berenz’s pay was frozen the past three years and her contract doesn’t include incentives many other administrators receive, such as bonuses or a car allowance.

“This is a very clean, lean and very transparent contract,” she said.

Board member Mike Roseen voted against the contract, not because he disapproved of Berenz’s performance but because he believed giving her a raise was unfair to other employees who agreed to a pay freeze just weeks ago.

“I’m not going to support this,” Roseen said. “It’s unfair to all those other employees. I look it as a fairness issue.”

Magnuson and other board members countered that teachers had received pay raises in past years and still receive increases tied to longevity and education.

“A raise is a raise,” said board member Rob Duchscher, referring to teachers’ negotiated “steps and lanes.”

Berenz’s new contract comes as she works to bring to the district a more analytical approach to teaching. She and her staff presented plans Monday that continue a growing emphasis on individualized student instruction that provides quick intervention for struggling students. The board could vote on the plan in March.

Under the plan, elementary students would meet individually with their teacher for an assessment before the start of each school year. Teachers would use the data to tailor instruction to each student’s needs from the first day of school forward.

The shift would trade as many as five traditional instruction days to give teachers time to assess students and examine data.

It is a move Berenz believes will both improve achievement and reduce the need to refer some struggling students to special education services for some learning disabilities. Other schools across Minnesota and the nation have seen improved achievement under similar instruction frameworks, she said.

“It is not just about the number of days, but the quality of those days,” she said. “Everybody wins with this. If we know something works, we have to move forward with it, even if it is a shift in thinking.”

Steve Troen, the district’s director of teaching and learning, said the move to more student-outcome and data-driven instruction ensures “all students receive the time and support to learn at high levels.”

“It requires a focus on learning and results, not just on teaching,” Troen said.

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